


Mist Over Water

by Silex



Category: Original Work
Genre: Birdwatching, Cryptids, Gen, Humor, Nature, Nature Photography
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-20 04:04:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15525669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silex/pseuds/Silex
Summary: All Adelia wanted was to photograph a pair of loons nesting on a little, out of the way lake. It's a simple enough thing, but when is anything ever that easy?





	Mist Over Water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spoke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoke/gifts).



> This is such an awesome prompt that I just had to write it! The idea came to me almost fully formed and it was a rush to write it down. I hope you enjoy!

Mist rose over the water, clinging to the shore, giving the whole lake a soft, dreamlike appearance. There was little wind to shake the reeds along the water’s edge and the mirror flat surface of the lake reflected the pale gray morning sky. The first rays of the sun were just starting to cast a pearly, pink glow on the horizon. Whippoorwills called out, their cries echoing in the silence. Soon the dawn chorus would begin and the woods around the lake would come alive with sound.

Hidden by reeds, Adelia sat on a fallen tree, waiting. Hands shaking with anticipation, she checked her camera one last time. The battery was at full charge, there was plenty of space on the memory card.

Today would be the day, she was sure of it.

Every day that week she’d gotten up early to make it to the remote area of woods before work and so far she hadn’t had any luck, but she had a good feeling about today.

The whippoorwill calls faded, jays and the occasional robin taking their place. A redwing blackbird flew past and clung to a tall reed less than ten feet from where she watched. Tilting back its head, it broke into song.

It had no idea she was there as she snapped a quick picture of it, just to be sure that her camera’s settings were right for the light.

Across the lake another blackbird responded.

A pair of early rising damsel files flitted past, dipping along the surface of the water.

Small ripples spread across the lake’s surface as fish rose up.

An early rising bullfrog croaked irritably.

That was good, exactly what she’d been waiting for.

Reeds across the water from her shook and a pair of shadows glided through the mist.

She didn’t need to see them to know what they were, loons in full breeding plumage.

All she had to do was wait a little longer for the sun to rise higher and burn the mist away, then she’d be able to see the birds in all their stark glory.

The birds, the lake, the sunrise, it was all perfect.

And she’d been trying for nearly a week so far to get a picture of them.

One of the loons let out a cry that sliced through the morning stillness. The other answered and for a time their eerie calls drowned out the rest of the birdsong.

The serenade stopped when one of the loons plunged beneath the surface.

Several breathless seconds later it bobbed back up, tossing its head back to swallow what it had caught.

Adelia fought back a frustrated sigh. That would have been the perfect picture if not for still it being too foggy to make out much more than a blur in the mist.

Soon though, she could see the occasional glimpse of white when the fog thinned.

Any minute now.

The fog began to fade, lingering near the reeds where the loons swam.

Then, in the moment she’d been waiting for, the loons emerged from it, black and white, their markings so clear they looked like they’d been painted rather than actual, living birds.

The zoom of her camera was powerful enough that she could see the red of their eyes.

The angle wasn’t quite right though. She had a few shots of them from the front and a hilarious one where one of the pair dove at the most inopportune moment, but she wanted a profile shot, one that really showed off their markings.

One was turning, she just had to wait.

Any second…

There it was, she just had to –

The lake’s surface exploded and the loons took off back into the reeds.

By the time her finger was off the button the birds were gone and the waves were all that remained.

“Not again!”

Adelia stood up from the tree and looked at her camera. It had been close, maybe she’d gotten the shot in time.

Scrolling through the photos she’d taken at the lake she came to the most recent one.

A massive, horned head, vaguely equine in appearance, but covered in heavy, serrated scales the color of wet slate was perfectly centered in the photo. Pupil-less yellow eyes stared straight at the camera, water dripping from fangs that jutted from the thing’s closed mouth. A black blur was visible at the edges of the picture, the loon she’d been trying to photograph flying off.

It had been that way all week.

She had dozens of pictures of the thing. It porpoising, several excellent views of its scaly back, which was vibrantly striped with varying shades of green, one of the cluster of bright red-tipped spines tipping its tail, and far too many to count of it staring straight at the camera, mouth open in what was easy to imagine as an amused grin.

Every time she was about to take a picture of the loons the thing somehow knew and scared them off.

Every. Single. Time.

The waves from the thing’s emergence reached the edge of the pond where she was sitting, sloshing water over her boots.

Overhead the loons circled, looking like they might land.

Just in case she readied her camera.

The thing stuck its nose above the surface and bellowed.

“You!” Adelia broke a small branch off the tree she’d been sitting on and threw it.

The thing deftly caught it in its mouth and dove back down with a flick of its tail.

All she wanted to do was take pictures of the loons, but the creature, whatever it was, always got in the way. The worst part, the absolute worst part, was in this day and age of Photoshop, monster movies and viral advertising no one would believe her if she showed them the pictures. She’d already gotten a warning about off topic posting on one of the birdwatching forums she was a part of when she’d tried to vent about what was happening, even with the pictures posted as proof.

Eventually though, she’d outsmart the thing and get the photos she wanted.

Tomorrow she had off from work so maybe she’d build a duck blind to hide from the thing, or a ghillie suit. She’d need to check Pinterest to see if anyone had patterns or tutorials for either.

“I’m going to get the pictures!” She shouted to the now still waters of the lake, “You can’t get in the way every time!”

Several large bubbles rose up.

The thing was laughing at her, she knew it.


End file.
